OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14349435
MAINTENANCE,AMPUTATED,LOCKOUT,BLADE,MEAT BLENDING MACH,LEG
Event description
LEGS AMPUTATED BY MEAT BLENDER BLADES
Investigation abstract
TWO MAINTENANCE WORKERS WERE IN THE HOT BEEF BONING DEPARTMENT (NO 26) ON SATURD THE SECOND EMPLOYEE JUMPED UP ONTO THE SHAFT AND OVER THE BLADES UNTIL HE COULD JUMP COMPLETELY OUT OF THE TUB. HE WAS NOT INJURED. THERE WAS NO AVAILABLE MEANS TO LOCK OUT EITHER THE MOTOR CONTROLLER OR THE 40 AMP, 480 VOLT CIRCUIT BREAKER WHICH CONTROLLED THE MOTOR CONTROLLER. IN FACT, THE CIRCUIT BREAKER WAS LOCATED OUT OF SIGHT AND APPROXIMATELY 55 FEET AWAY IN THE BEEF BONING/PORK PACK ELECTR ICAL ROOM. THE BREAKER HAD NOT BEEN TURNED OFF. NO LOCKOUT PROCEDURE WAS BEING E NFORCED AT THE PLANT. AY, JULY 14, 1984. THEY WERE ADDING TEFLON SCRAPERS TO THE ENDS OF THE RIBBON BL ADES IN A 3,000 POUND CAPACITY, STAINLESS STEEL MEAT BLENDER. EMPLOYEE #1 AND AN OTHER EMPLOYEE WERE INSIDE THE BLENDER'S 47 INCH WIDE BY 84 INCH LONG BY 34 INCH DEEP TUB WHEN THE TWO 22 TO 23 INCH DIAMETER, AUGER-LIKE BLADES, POWERED BY THE MACHINE'S TWO 7.5 HORSEPOWER ELECTRIC MOTORS, BECAME ENERGIZED. APPARENTLY SOME ONE ON THE OPERATOR'S PLATFORM ACCIDENTALLY LEANED AGAINST THE MOTOR CONTROLLER' S START BUTTON. EMPLOYEE # 1 WAS CAUGHT BY THE BLADES AND SUFFERED AMPUTATIONS O F BOTH LEGS. THE LEFT LEG WAS SEVERED AT THE KNEE AND THE RIGHT LEG AT THE HIP.
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 39 M
- Nature of injury
- 1
- Part of body
- 16
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 26
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 13
- Environmental factor
- 3
- Task assigned
- 1
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.